The company's press release landed this morning after the first weekend the shiny rectangles went on sale, in which Apple called the feat a new "weekend record." That said, many who pre-ordered are still waiting for their new tablets to arrive, while Wi-Fi + Cellular versions are still due to ship in "mid-November."

Apple chief executive Tim Cook said in prepared remarks:

We set a new launch weekend record and practically sold out of iPad minis. We're working hard to build more quickly to meet the incredible demand... We set a new launch weekend record and practically sold out of iPad minis. We're working hard to build more quickly to meet the incredible demand.

But the results were not as grand as previous launches, thanks to Hurricane Sandy kicking ten bells out of the Eastern Seaboard, causing widespread power outages in major metropolitan areas, which understandably left the vast majority more focused on getting their lives back on track than buying the latest Apple product.

Analysts had expected anything from 800,000 devices sold to 1.5 million in the first weekend. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster saw his initial estimate double across the new iPad range, in spite of New York's "unique circumstances" due to Sandy, and "two of the five Apple Stores in New York are closed due to power outages."

He said on Friday:

[We] continue to feel comfortable with our 1-1.5 million iPad Mini launch weekend estimate and 5 million estimate for the December quarter.

But we have no idea how many iPad mini tablets were sold, likely due to poor initial performance. We'll likely get a first hit of iPad mini sales breakdowns after Christmas at Apple's first quarter earnings.

Munster added:

The reason we expect fewer iPad Minis compared to the [third-generation iPad] is because of the lack of the wireless option and newness of the smaller form factor for consumers... We believe that the smaller tablet market has lacked the presence of a smaller iPad that brings the Apple ecosystem and brand to that market.

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